The Suitcase
by BeansproutMidget
Summary: Based off of my headcanon which Ed uses the same suitcase he used on the journey whenever he travels because he reminds him of his days traveling around the country. A small contribution to FMA Day 2014. One-shot.


**Warning: I wrote this in an hour. It won't be the best thing I write.**

**I always say 'I enjoy writing, but I never said I was good at it!'**

**Disclaimer: The all powerful, mighty Fullmetal Alchemist manga/anime is not mine. If it was...well, this wouldn't be fanfic.**

**The Suitcase **

It was brown, worn, and pretty much useless. At least, that's what the normal eye would see it as.

However, to Ed, it was more than that. It was a remnant of his teenaged years, the ones he spent determined to defy the laws of the natural world.

This remnant was...a suitcase.

The handle was almost off its hinges, something Edward would've fixed if he still possessed alchemy. He would've fixed the old thing and continued to use it. But, it had been two years since he gave it up, for Al's sake, and he had adjusted to not being able to clap his hands and use the science he still studied.

"I can't believe its still intact!" he remarks to himself, scratching his head sheepishly.

The suitcase laying on the bed in front of him was the one he used during his journey. It was the only one that sat in his house at the time when he was packing, as his father had taken the other with him when he left.

Closing his eyes, Ed thinks back to the day where he left. The day he made sure he wouldn't forget. The one he etched into his now blood-stained State Alchemist pocketwatch.

HERPADERPADERPADERPADERPAHERPADERPADERAHERPADERPAHERPADERP

_October 3rd, 1911_

"Ed, are you really sure you want to do this?" Alphonse's echoing voice asks from the lower level of the house they lived in, the clanking of his armor being heard from the bedroom the older brother stood in.

"Of course I am Al!" Edward replies, placing the things he collected into the suitcase that now sat on his bed, open.

He didn't gather much: a few sets of clothes he transmuted to match the ones he currently wore, some oil for his automail, a travelogue, and a few other small things. Luckily, everything fit inside the case perfectly.

Closing the case, Ed grabs the handle and turns to walk out of the room, passing by a picture that sat on his desk. He notices it, and pauses.

The picture was one about four years old: it had himself, his younger brother Al, his body still intact, and their mother crouched down by them both, smiling proudly.

"Mom..."

Suddenly, everything starts to break through his mental gates. When she cared for them, like a mother should've. When she died fighting a deadly disease, like any parent should've. When the brothers ptried to bring her back to life...

"Ed?! Are you alright?" Al exclaims, his suit of armor clunking with every step he took up the stairs. Sticking his head into the room, the large armor almost falling over.

"Al, I told you wait downstairs!" Edward exclaims, forgetting the picture and worrying about his brother's safety.

After all, it was his fault he ended up that way.

And that's why he was packing his bags in the first place. He was going to get his brother's body back. He was going to find the Philosopher's Stone.

Alphonse picks himself up, waving his brother off. "You were taking a while, so I came to see what was going on," he replies, looking down at his brother. He suddenly saddens, as much as a suit of armor could. "Also...Granny and Winry are outside.."

"What?" Ed exclaims, quickly running out of the room and down the staircase in a flash, his suitcase soaring behind him like a flag.

As he reached the front door, the golden-haired boy grabs a box sitting nearby, passing through the door and out into the front yard, where he spotted two people standing in the area.

One was short, shorter than Ed, and was at least in her fifties. The second was a young girl, the same age as Ed: twelve. She had blond hair pulled in a ponytail, and bright blue eyes, carrying a small container of something.

"Winry, Granny, why are you here?" Edward asks, dropping his bag on the grass and racing over to the two ladies.

"We're here too..." Pinako, whom Ed called Granny, starts, before noticing the box in Ed's grasp. she reads the box, and gasps.

"Matches?" she exclaims nervously as Al stumbles out of the house, making his way over to the three. "Ed, what on Earth are you doing?"

Ed starts to respond, but no sound escapes. He looks at the ground in despair, ashamed of his response. "Al and I...we're gonna burn down the house.."

The news hits the two like a pile of bricks falling on top of them.

"What? Ed, you can't be serious!" the blonde, Winry, exclaims, trying not to believe her best friend.

"We are Winry," Al adds in his input, walking up to stand behind his brother. "We decided on it."

"No, you can't! I won't let you!" Pinako exclaims angrily, scolding the two boys. "You won't have a place to live, for christ's sake! And what if your father comes back?"

Ed's eyes widen in anger. "THAT BASTARD WON'T EVER COME BACK!" he shouts loudly, scaring away some of the birds sitting on the tree that was beside their house. He lets himself calm down, and continues. "Besides, If I'm going to get Al's body back, we're going to be moving place to place often. If I need a place to sleep, I'll find one."

Fifteen minutes and an argument later, the Elric household, once home to a happy family, but covered in crime and science, was set a flame by the ones who lived in it.

The oranges, yellows, and reds lit up the dusk, almost night, sky like a lamp in a dark tunnel. The smoke billowed up, and high into the sky until it disappeared.

The town of Resembool would wake up the next morning with no idea the house was missing until they looked out their windows. All that remained from the blaze, which was put out by the neighbors, was a black, partially-burnt tree. The ground where the abode once was was black and ashen, hiding the secret that occured in the basement a few years back.

The occupants of the house, two young boys, were no where to be found and were thought to have died. Luckily, their neighbors, the Rockbells, said they survived and had left, catching a train to East City.

OoOoOOOOOoOooooooOOOoOOooooooooooooOOOOOOoOOOOOOOOooooOOOoooOOOoOOooooOoO

"I can't believe that you carry that thing still, Ed!" Winry exclaims when he arrives in the living room, the golden-haired young man carrying the same brown suitcase from his journey.

"Why? Its the only suitcase I have!" he replies to the blonde-haired girl, who huffs. "Besides, its the only thing left from that day..."

Winry tries to respond, before stopping herself and thinking. "Which 'day'? The Promised Day? The day you tried to bring your mother back? The day you got your license?" she asks, trying to figure out Ed's statement.

"The one in the pocketwatch, how about that?" he answers, motioning with his head to where his house formerly stood.

Winry saddens a bit, gazing out the window at the location. "You didn't even bring anything from there? Just the clothes in the suitcase...and the suitcase?"

"What can I say, I pack light." Edward jokes, walking past the girl and to the front door of the house.

PEWDIEPIEPEWDIEPIEWPEWDIEPIEPEWDIEPIEPEWDIEPIE

**I promise, I WILL update Fullmetal Hero. Although...I REALLY want to rewrite it now that I see its flaws...**

**What should I do?**

**Go watch -man, maybe.**

**Well, I did that, and thus my newest fanfic, Experiment 14, was created. If you are a rare DGM fan, check it out!**

**But seriously...what should I do?**


End file.
